New Base Yarn...Flump Aran

PetrolHead

Purple Tempest

Jean Jeanie

Midnight

This is a new base yarn I am adding to my range, a super~floofy Superwash Aran weight yarn, which I am calling Flump Aran... as it's pretty much the same as Flump Sock...just thicker ;)

This 400g will be going into the shop update on Saturday night...just to see how it goes :)

New at Babylonglegs !!!

I have wanted to stock Emma's Skull stitch markers for AGES... talked about it with her at KnitNation, but never got around to it, then saw her at Fibre Flurry and amongst the madness, managed to make an order :)

They are available in two sizes, 4 mm snag free rings or 7mm snag free rings....and you can have them in Metal (pictured top) or Acrylic (pictured bottom) and they are priced at £5 for 4 :)

I have some acrylic ones, and being the skull freak that I am...they are my stitch marker of choice ;)

They are in the shop now!!

The end of an era ......

(photo reproduced with kind permission of Andy Robinson)

At the weekend, my lovely friend, and wool supplier Andy Robinson, lost all of his current white wool stocks in a horrendous fire at his storage facility. At latest count, it comes to around 5 tonnes, if you include his discontinued stocks of Rowan Scottish Tweed.

That is one helluva lot of wool..... and a big blow for him, and all us Indies in the UK who depend on his awesome skillz as a Fixer ;)

But, despite it all, despite this huge event and its repercussions throughout the Woolly World, he put his own worries and shell shock to one side, and worked hard to make sure people have undyed yarns and fibres !! I recieved an order via the courier this morning, goodness knows where he *found* it all, but I have wool again, thanks to Mr Wool *grin*

What can I say, but thankyou, Andy. Your strength and consideration for others is second to none.

Amongst the stocks that were lost forever, were 4 of my staple base yarns, British Merino Aran, DK and Sock, and my Radiance Aran.

As these were all one-off spin runs, all he had, is all there is :(

The British Merino Yarns in particular were very special. A few years ago, he bought a huge amount of British Merino (as in the top 2% of the clip, therefore the finest) at auction, to celebrate his company HW Hammond being in the wool business for 150 years. This was then spun into the above yarns, and some being left as tops too, for handspinners.

Now, for me it's just the most amazing yarn. Outstanding quality, as those of you who have used it can testify to, being sturdy and soft all at the same time. It also takes colour in a wonderful, powdery way, a dream to dye for me, and you have to be really rough with it to harm it, which is right up my street ;) I am not a habitual wool boiler, but you know, I have known to be distracted once in a while!

So, this weeks shop update is all about my remaining stock of British Merino Aran. I had 600g of undyed yarn (plus a few 50g hanks for trims) left before the fire, so that has been dyed into my 3 favourite Babylonglegs colourways...

TreeHugger

Olivia

Blue Banana

Semi~Precious Shop Update

Been having lots of fun with colour over the last couple of days......and here are the results :D

This will be my last shop update till my kidlets go back to school, so get it while you can!!!

A Happy Collaboration :)

A Happy Collaboration of......

My merino sock yarn, in "Rainbow Brite"

And Nic's project bag, in a FlowerPower inspired VW Beetle print

My friend NicsKnots and I are exhibiting together (along with Atomic Knitting and the venerable WoollyWormhead) at an event in July called KnitNation and to celebrate this, we have come up with an awesome Limited Edition combo, a hand sewn projct bag with Herbies on it and a skein of my dip~dyed Merino sock yarn.

It is up for sale now, on both Folksy and Etsy should you not be able to resist such a happy and uplifting combination :)

Citron

This beautiful shawl is called "Citron" (from Knitty Winter 2009, designed by Hilary Smith Callis) and has been made by a very talented customer of mine, from Boolace, in the "Enormous Crocodile" colourway......

She used 75grams and the shawl measures 104cm along the top edge and 45cm deep. Look at the shine on it !!!

And it's just so awesomely green !!!

WooHoo !!!

nomNomNOM :)

As you can see, the BooLace, even though its only an 800m lace yarn, goes a long way!!!!

Thankyou for the pictures, Lesley, and for allowing me to show it off to Blogland :D

In search of the perfect red..

A "from scratch" Red (as opposed to a lazy pre~mixed red) is a difficult colour to nail. Nailing this perfect red has now become a little quest of mine...and here is my first~ish attempt, on BooLace.

I have called it "Rowan" which in Gaelic means "little redhead"...and I really thing it does look like red hair!!

How I'd imagine the Victorian Super Model, Elizabeth Siddal's hair to be...

Folksy Blog Feature :D

The loverly peeps at Folksy contacted me last week with some questions, as they are starting to feature some of their sellers on the Folksy blog. So, I am the first featured seller on there, which makes me very proud, both to be asked and also to be one of their most successful sellers :)

Folksy has just come out of Beta, which means it's now quite expensive to be a seller there (5% of the final sale value + 20p to list) but, they have to make a living, and how can they promote the site and make it better for everyone if they have no income?

I am going to try my hardest to keep my prices as they are, but, just to let you all know in advance, I might have to raise them to take into consideration the fees I have to pay.

More semi-solids!

These are going into my shop some time this weekend, all superwash Merino DK in 200g lots :D
I am so in love with these, the green one particularly is going to be very hard to part with!!!

I haz gotz Seeps!!

My most excellent sewing diva buddy, NicsKnots has made these knitting notions for me, as part of my Stone Soup Challenge purchase for March, and I think they are FAB!!
The lady she buys this particular fabric from calls them "Seeps".... **grins**
Nic's wares can be found on Folksy and also at Fyberspates (as well as on Etsy, Misi and various other places.....I dunno how she keeps up with it all.....lol)
I do rather suspect she's trying to take over the world, one little bag at a time.....which ain't no bag...ahem...BAD thing, as they are ace.... ;)
Thanks Nic!!!

My tribute to Springtime :)

Have been walking past peoples newly invigorated gardens all week, on the school run.... beautiful crocuses, daffodils and narcissus bursting into an array of colours. That coupled with the gorgeous sunshine we've had this week ahs spurred me on to create something joyous and new.

So, here we have "Spring", a bit of a rework of a past colourway called "Spring Bouquet" but without any cerise.....

Blue Banana, 3 ply handspun

This is an worsted/aran weight handspun, 115g, approx 208yds. One ply is the space dyed BFL you can see a detailed picture of at the very top, and the ohter two plies are merino. One is space spun in shades of rust/orange and chesnut, and the other is solid turquoise :D This will subtly self stripe, and the depth of colour is immense!!!!